


Proud

by Fallen_Ark_Angel



Series: Parenthood [16]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-04-12
Packaged: 2018-06-01 22:28:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6539011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fallen_Ark_Angel/pseuds/Fallen_Ark_Angel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Newborns are definitely something to get used to. Unless you're already an awesome older brother right from the start. Then it's pretty simple.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Proud

  


As a father of three children, Laxus had learned that the first few months were, honestly, the hardest. And yes, maybe Nate's had been special because, well, his first few months in the man's life involved shock, resistance, potty training, and falling in love (actually in that order), but Pike's had been enough of a teacher to guide him through the next one.

He was expecting the crying and late night feedings. The horrible migraines from no sleep and Mira going through that weird phase where she thought that she would never lose the baby weight (she actually had more to worry about that time, if he was being honest). Then, of course, there was dealing with his other children, which would be both Nate and Pike in the current situation, who were older, of course, than Nathan had been the first time, but at the same time still young. He wanted to be sure that no jealousy or resentment popped up as it had the last time between the two boys.

That, honestly, was the hardest part of it all. Because, yeah, the boys did like their new sister, they loved her, but sometimes the crying jags all through the night wore thin on them and the time Mirajane had to dedicate to the baby seemingly (but not truly) over them could breed some contempt. Laxus had never had siblings and, though sometimes a brother would have been cool, he'd never wanted a sister. He'd been able to convince Nate that, one day, a baby brother would be awesome, but how could he explain that it would be a good thing to have a sister when, really, judging from how annoying Lisanna was (who was his sister through marriage, of course) actually sucked at times?

Still though, he just wanted to manufacturer some times there in the beginning, when she cried through the night and the boys were just as miserable too, where they bonded with Ivory a bit to help them over the hump.

The best solution, for Nate, and one of his favorite things to do, was holding the new baby. He really enjoyed that. It made him feel important, Laxus figured, and gave him the illusion of being a caretaker to her. With Pike, he'd been forced into loving the boy under the threat of death (of Mirajane; Laxus was a lot looser cannon with his parenting styles back then). Ivory, however, he seemed to just know that he should love her. And though at times he griped, quite heavily, about her crying or how Mira was sleeping so much and not giving him attention, he ultimately was able to rationalize it or just invite himself to spend the night with his cousin Mace to get away from it.

The latter happened a lot.

Pike, however, was usually too afraid to hold the new baby. He had twice before, but was so nervous that Laxus and Mira were afraid he would drop her, so that was nixed quite quickly. But he was very interested in her. You know, when she wasn't wailing. In those times he usually avoided her or Mira, but the rest of the time he was practically under his mother's feet, failing usually in his attempts to to be, well, helpful.

Not with diapers though. Nope. He didn't even try to help with those. They were nasty. But he was good at picking out which onesie the baby was going to wear and watching her watch the mobile above her crib and explaining to her what each little object spinning above her did.

"That," he told her a lot, "is a star. It's up in the sky. And that's a ship. You go across water with that. And that's a car. You go across roads with that. And don't fall asleep, Ivy. I'm still explainin' stuff to you!"

She did that a lot, Ivory did. Fall asleep during the most important of conversations. He couldn't get too mad, however, as he very infrequently got her name right, regardless of his father's insistence that it wasn't Ivy, but rather Ivory, and even sounding it out with him at times. Pike just had a hard time remember. That was all.

He was also good at story time. For years, Nate had read him to sleep and, well, to further the tradition, he returned it right back to the newest Dreyar. Mommy would lay her down on a blankie in the living room before bedtime and sit there with them as Pike read one of his easy chapter books to her. Nate used to just make up stories and pretend to read, but Pike was very deliberate with his words, sounding them all out and reading them all slow and steady, so he didn't mess up.

Ivory was appreciative, he was certain. She would just lay there and blink and dribble and sometimes sleep, but mostly just lay there. Already she was a far better listener than Nate.

Clearly, Laxus realized frequently, he had nothing to worry about. His boys loved their sister. A lot.

It was actually late one night that Laxus found out just how much Pike loved his sister. Some time past three as Mirajane laid awake (she'd gotten in a long nap that day, actually, and was unable to sleep), the door to her and Laxus' bedroom creaked open slowly. The noise immediately woke the snoozing slayer who just laid there, vigilant and waiting, until he realized who it was.

Pike. Both relaxing, Mirajane and Laxus waited for him to join them in their bed, citing the fear of a monster or something of the sort. Only he didn't. His mother was just about to call out to him when, in a very soft voice, the boy spoke.

"Hi, Ivy," he whispered, approaching her crib. The only light in the room was coming through the windows, a mix of a street lamp and the moon, but it was enough for Pike to see her in there, between the bars of her crib, resting. "Are you gonna wake up? No? That's okay. I jus' wanted you to know that I was sleepin' and I had a dream about you. Sometimes I forget 'em if I just go back to sleep, so I thought I'd just come and tell you. You weren't as much as a baby as you are now and we were playing with the doggy and-"

"Pike," came the low voice of his father as his mother shifted to sit up and stare over at him. "What are you doing?"

He froze then, the boy did, over at the crib before saying, "I was tellin' Ivy about a dream I had."

"Buddy, it's late."

"But I had to. Before I forgot."

"Ivory really appreciated that, sweetie," Mira told him gently. "But she's sleepy right now and I don't feel like dealing with her if you wake her up. Can you please go get back in bed? Pike? Daddy will go with you and you can tell him your dream so he can tell it to Ivory later."

"What?" Laxus growled. "Mirajane-"

"Go."

Ugh. Laxus went to go take his hand and lead him back to bed, the little boy telling him through yawns all about how he and Ivory had gone for a walk with their doggy and had all sorts of fun and she could talk and told him some things that he couldn't remember, really, but they'd been nice.

"Uh-huh," his father yawned as he led the boy back to his bedroom. "That's nice, buddy."

"Ivy probably would rather listen to me tell it to her," Pike said as Laxus put him to bed, tucking the boy in as well as pressing a kiss to his head. "But she likes you too, I think."

Laxus was too tired to explain that she loved him way more, as her father, that she ever would Pike, who was just a brother. It was too late at night for that sort of thing.

"Of course, Pike." Another kiss. "Now go to sleep. I love you."

"Love you."

Then it was back to dealing with Ivory.

Heh.

Pike wasn't the only one that was vigilant over the little baby, however. Mirajane's faithful ol' mutt was rather obsessive with her as well. Since Nate's arrival in their lives, he'd always slept next to the boy's bed. Always. And, when they moved houses, it wasn't even a debate between Pike's bedroom or Nate's. He even had a little doggy bed that Mira bought him when they moved that she put in the corner of Nathan's bedroom.

They were just that close.

And they still were, of course, but at the same time, there were just nights when he didn't feel like the wielder of Satan Soul and the Thunder God were strong enough to keep the new tiniest master safe, so he just had to sleep in there, next to the crib, and stand guard. And also get in Laxus' way when the baby was crying and make it harder to tend to her. It was just part of the deal.

Nate didn't mind and never tried to force the doggy to come with him. He understood.

After all, Ivory did like him the best.

It was kinda obvious, really. Sure, he was gone most of the time, out playing or spending the night with Mace, but when he was home, he was always sure to check on his baby.

"Hi, Egg," he'd say because he called her that, because Ivory was a stupid name (leave it to stinkin' Laxus to mess up namin' his sister) and Egg just sounded so much better. And, if she was laying on a blanket or sitting in someone's lap, he'd go and pet her very gently on the head, like she was an animal or something.

And, if Mace was with him, he'd always be sure to mention that he and Egg were pretty tight and that Mace should be pretty jealous that he had a little brother that admired him (Pike had never said this, but it was a given) and a baby sister that adored him (again, just a give). Mace would only stare though as he was pretty sure that he knew what jealousy felt like and that definitely wasn't what he had.

At all.

Sympathy, maybe. But certainly not jealousy.

Egg really enjoyed their walks too. Nate took her on those all by himself practically. Of course, Mirajane would be standing behind him with Pike and the dog and sometimes Laxus would be too, but Nate was definitely the one pushing the stroller and it was a bit ahead of the others, so he basically was walking her alone.

Sorta.

"I'm gettin' pretty good at my magic, Egg," he said once as he was out walking her with her stroller all alone (Mira was, literally, ten paces behind them with Pike, but again, it was enough to count in Nate's mind). "Did you know that?"

If she had any comprehension of words, maybe, as he'd told her about it a thousand times, but since she didn't, no. And honestly, if he peeked into the stroller, he'd find that she was actually sleeping at the moment as rides in the stroller always soothed her.

"I'mma be, like, the greatest wizard ever, just so you know." He even grinned. "And you can be a barmaid with Mommy and Pike, since he won't probably be any good at magic and it'd just be embarrassing, really, for him to have to watch me be awesome and him not, so yeah, he'll just help you guys at the bar and-"

"Nathan," Mira called out to him. "We can hear you. And that's not very nice."

"Yeah," Pike complained. "I can be good at magic too!"

"I am talking to my baby," he complained, not even glancing back at them. Pushing the stroller a bit faster (but not too fast or else Mirajane might take over the pushing and that would suck), he got back to that. "Anyways, Egg, I'm pretty awesome. You remember when I spent the night with Aunt Lisanna and Bickslow last week? I really wasn't. They just told you that so you wouldn't worry. I was actually out single handedly besting the stinkin' Salamander out on a job. I do that. Ask anyone. But you don't need to because you believe me, so don't."

Heh.

So Nate had a bit of an imagination. And liked to interject himself into stories he heard around the guild when talking to his baby. Was that such a bad thing? It wasn't like Egg was going to go around questioning others on these stories.

At least she better not. Because Pike had started that crap recently where he didn't believe all of Nate's lies and fantastical stories. It was horrible. That's part of what made having Egg to great, really, as she replaced that lost spot in his life. He would love her regardless, of course, but it definitely helped things along.

Nate was a little less thrilled, however, with just how much Gramps seemed to like her. He knew, of course, that Mirajane would have to spend countless hours tending to her and that Laxus would too, but Gramps? His Gramps? He wanted the man to like Egg, of course, but not at the detriment to his time with the man.

But oh, Makarov sure liked holding her and giving her bottles and he didn't even get mad when she was sobbing or he had to change her diaper. Mira assured him that the man had been much the same when he and Pike were both that age as well, but Nate didn't care. Egg was great and everything, but his grandfather was pretty dang sacred.

He could never stay upset about this for long though, Nathan couldn't, as just as soon as he got worked up when Gramps said he didn't wanna play cards and instead was going to help put Ivory to bed, the baby was looking at her brother, practically in his eyes he felt and she would do that thing where Laxus swore she wasn't really smiling, but Nate thought she was. Just for him. Because he was her big bubba.

Besides, Gramps wasn't so bad at dividing time between all of them, really. It was just that Nate was, well, he was a good big brother in some regards, Pike would give him that, but he also was a tad selfish. If anything, he had practically the exact same self-absorbed personality as his father, in which he could see his own greatness and didn't care if others did or not; he could brag on himself just fine.

It wasn't until the baby was about five months old that Laxus knew his boys were set as far as their love for her went. Namely, teething started.

Man, Laxus had sorta forgotten about how bad Pike had been when that set in, but Ivory was quick to remind him. Nothing soothed her. Nothing. She was in constant pain it seemed and no amount of stroller pushes from Nate, snuggles from Mirajane, stories from Pike, grins from Makarov, or vigilance of the dog could help her through that. Laxus would sing for her (if the others weren't around, that is) and bought her all sorts of things to chew on, but nothing helped.

It was one night as he was sitting up with her in the living room, trying to let Mirajane get some rest, when it happened.

"What are you boys doing?" he complained as Pike and Nate came into the room and headed over to him. "You need to go back to bed. Tomorrow Elfman is taking you guys to-"

"We can't sleep," Nathan told him simply. "Egg is too loud."

"Well, she's hurting. You know that."

At the moment she wasn't whining as much as she was just moaning a bit around Laxus finger which she was using to chew on. The sight of her brothers did nothing to raise her spirits and neither did Nate's gent pats on the head.

"I know," Pike told his father before holding up what was in his hands. It was his beat up old stuffed toy Money the Monkey. "Here."

"Here what?" Laxus asked. He thought the boy wanted him to take him back to bed or something and just said, "I'll come to tuck you in again later. I'm-"

"No," he complained, moving to thrust the ragged old stuffed animal at him. "Here. Ivy can have Money."

"Pike, she'll get him all dirty," Laxus said as he dropped it in the man's lap. "She's drooling and all snotty from crying and-"

"It'll make her feel better."

"Yeah, but she has other toys," the man insisted. "I don't want your toy to get dirty."

"I can just give him a bath."

"Pike-"

"You're annoying," Nathan told his father though he wasn't looking at the man. He was still gently rubbing at Ivory's white hair as the baby stared up at him. "And I don't think she wants your nasty finger in her mouth."

Growl. "Look, you little brat-"

"I think she wants me to hold her." Nathan gave her one more pat before moving to sit on the couch and look at his father expectantly. "Now."

"Nathan-"

"I think she wants Money," Pike said, frowning at his brother. The only reason Nate was even in there was because he heard Pike's bedroom door open and close and, always a snoopy one (and knowing that the other day, when Pike had a sore throat, he got up in the middle of the night and Gramps gave him ice cream for it), clambered right down from his bunk bed and rushed to investigate. "Not Nathan."

"She likes me more than anyone," the other boy argued with a glare at his little brother. "So shut up! And let me hold Egg!"

"No!" Pike was picking Money back up then to shove the old thing in her face. "Here, Ivy. You can hold him and feel better. Okay?"

"Boys, knock it off," Laxus complained, giving them both a look. "It's not making things any better by you...whatever it is you're doing. Arguing over her. Whatever. And for the last time, Pike, her name is Ivory. Not Ivy."

"Ivy."

"You-"

"Yelling isn't helping," Nate pointed out, reaching over once more to gently pat his sister's head. "You're the one making things bad."

Pike, annoyed on being corrected, nodded. "Nate can hold her and then I can give her Money. It's you that's being bad, Daddy."

"Excuse me?"

"Excuse all of you," they heard from the hall and all three boys frowned because Mirajane was up and coming to get on them. "It is the middle of the night. What are you boys doing-"

"We wanted to help Egg feel better," Nate said, sitting up real tall and looking over at his mother. "But he wouldn't even let me hold her!"

"Yeah," Pike said with a nod. "I's gpnna give her Money, but Daddy-"

"Awe, really?" Just like that Mirajane was peppy and giddy and rushing right over. Taking their child from him, Laxus was left empty handed as she moved to set the baby in her eldest brother's lap. "Careful with her, Nate."

Always.

And Pike moved to wiggle Money in her face and wait for her to grab at his tail, and eventually putting it in her mouth to chew on. Considering that tail had served for the exact same thing for Pike all those years ago, he understood completely.

Even though it had far less to do with the fact Nate was snuggling her or that Pike's Money was in her grasp, when Ivory stopped whining, they sure thought it did. In actuality, it had far more to do with the fact that she hadn't seen Mirajane in a good two hours and just the smell of her mother was soothing. Her teeth were hurting less then and she really just needed the woman to sing to her a bit and maybe give her head a kiss before she was out for the night.

But the boys didn't know that and really thought they were the cure to all of their little Egg's problems. It made sense to them. After all, who would understand her more than her big brothers?

"I think," Mirajane yawned that night after they got all three kids in their respective beds and taken the dog to pee as well as made Master some tea to help him sleep, "that we have the best kids ever."

Snort. Then, "They're horrible. Not my baby, but those boys? Just rude little brats that interrupt me and talk back to me and-"

"And you love it," Mira accused. "Because then you get to argue with them. Or at least Nate. And I think you hurt Pike's feelings. He told me as I was tucking him in that you've been really mean about this whole Ivy thing-"

"That's not her name. What? Am I supposed to just let him confuse her?"

"Considering you're fine with Nathan calling her Egg-"

"And you don't like that," the man pointed out. "You complain about it all the time."

"Because that's not a name. It's a food."

Then the two just stared at one another because, really, it was sorta funny, the sides they'd fallen on the subject. Usually Mira tried to shield Nathan from his father (they were so alike that it was rather hard for the two of them to get along) while Laxus couldn't help, but to baby Pike because, well, he'd been the first baby he'd ever had, really, as he'd gotten Nate when he was a toddler and, really, he'd never been the boy's favorite. Sure, he wasn't Pike's either, but it was closer between he and Mirajane than it was with Nate.

Sighing, Laxus rolled onto his back. "I was just always afraid that, you know, we'd have another problem between them. I mean, I know the boys say they like her and they're usually pretty good with her, but I keep waiting for the anvil to fall, you know?"

Mirajane just hummed though, snuggling up to her pillow. "I'm sure there'll be bad days, Lax. I mean, there have been already. But overall, I think they're fine. Both of them. Nate's getting old enough to have his own life and Pike's just happy to have someone to take care of. You just get so tense about Ivory-"

"They're two little boys, Mira," he grumbled. "I just want to make sure they don't hurt her. That's all."

"You just didn't want Nate to hold her because he was being a little butt to you."

Maybe.

"I was just saying," Laxus complained as he rolled onto his stomach and buried his head in his pillow, "that I've been nervous about them with her, but… I dunno. I'm starting to think things are just going to be fine. And it's weird, because things aren't usually just fine in my life, but recently-"

"Sometimes you just have to be happy, Laxus," she told him simply. "And content. You can't always be thinking about what sorta horrible fate awaits you."

"I know," he grumbled. "And I am content. Very content. I have been for a long time. I guess what I'm trying to say is that...I'm proud of the boys. They've been very mature about this and that's just impressive. I'm happy with them. And Ivory. I just… I love my kids. They're good. All of them. I know I gripe at him a lot, but Nathan's been very good recently. And Pike usually doesn't like new people, but he accepted Ivory just like that. I'm… I don't know. Never mind. Just go to sleep."

Grinning then, Mirajane shifted closer to him and snuggled up to the slayer. "You're so cute, dragon."

"Shuddup."

"You are." His neck got a kiss even. "Especially when you're bashful."

"I ain't bashful."

"Are too."

Grunt.

"Awe." Mira snuggled against him some more. Ugh. She was so annoying. "Daddy Dragon."

"I hate when you call me that."

"You love it," she giggled before closing her eyes. "And you know it."

Maybe. But he definitely wouldn't be admitting it any time soon.


End file.
